October 5th-9th trip to Dubbo, Cobar, Gilgandra, Mumbil

The birds are HUGE here.    That Ewu that we saw could probably carry you away.

We got to see many Emus on the way from Cobar to Gilgandra but we were whizzing by to fast to get a good picture.   Plus it was cloudy and rainy.  They are huge birds.  

We also got to see a large turtle crossing the road and what we thought maybe was a Wombat waddling across the road just ahead of us http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wombat

but someone told us that since it was waddling it was probably a Echidna  http://australian-animals.net/echidna.htm   What ever it was, we saw it waddling into the grass along the side of the road before we got to it.     We were just glad we didn't hit it.

Motel in Gilgandra that we stayed at

This is the cabin we got to stay over night in at Gilgandra.  There are about 36 cabins at this motel. 

 The Dubbo Branch President and his wife (from Utah) owns it.  

Even though there are so many cabins we still had to share our room with another guest. Economical, right?

We will be coming here to their motel for Thanksgiving.   They have a big dinning room for their motel guests to eat at.    The guests let them know what time they want breakfast or dinner and they are served there in the big dinning room.    We are excited since Australia does not celebrate Thanksgiving.    But the wife is from Utah and she likes to celebrate still so we are having a real Thanksgiving dinner.   

Our apartment in Dubbo

Here is our set up.   There is no central heating in homes or apartments so we moved into this one room.  

Ate, computered and slept right here on the floor with one heater and the door closed. 

The lovely roads of Australia's Outback (it seems like it)

Here is the type of roads we travel on a lot.   

I just figured out a good way to describe these roads here in Australia.  

Remember in the 1st "Cars" movie.   Lightning McQueen had to pave the road that he messed up.  

Do you remember how he did it the first time?   

Madder went riding down it bbbbooooooooooouncyinnnng aaalll tthhhe wwwaay.  

Well, that's the country roads here in every direction  the second you leave Orange.    And these are just the main roads.   Get off the main roads and they are dirt.     

 

All the roads are lined with trees, even the main roads.   You have to look close to see the country side through opening in the trees.     

Here is one of those times.

It was raining hard and we were driving so the picture is a little blurred in front but you can see how flat it is on this trip. 

Now does this look scary or does this look scary?   Cars coming at you on the right side of the road. 

Let me tell you from experience.   It is scary.  

And that truck up in front of us took up 2 lanes.   All the cars coming towards us had to pull clear off of the road.   Many places there are not sides of the road to pull off onto.    So a police car with lights flashing goes ahead to warn people so they can find a place to get off.    

There is a lot of mining that goes on here and so I assume that this is some kind of mining equiptment.

We are starting to get comfortable with the driving now.   But  like wild animals, our instincts kick in and we find ourselves making  mistakes.   Going to the wrong side of the car to get in.    Reaching for the break on the left side, now the passengers seat, when it is not there.    Not looking to the right before taking out.   NOW THAT WAS REALLY SCARY ONCE.    And those "Give Way" signs?    I yell stop at every one of them now when Elder Tietjen is driving.   We went through one of those one to many times.   We had cars honking at us coming from both directions.       We have learned to not get to comfortable as we drive. 

YET!!!

We met lots of nice people and made new friends.   We also got home safe in our apartment in Orange without any exciting episodes. 

Picnic cancelled with W........n and L....

We just found out that L..... is sick and therefore the hangi picnic is cancelled.    It is also not a real good for a picnic.   It is cloudy, windy and cool.

We are now loading up a day early to take out to Dubbo.   Wish us luck on these roads.  

Going to Dubbo actually has the best roads.   They are like driving down the Lyman Highway to Ririe.    Real nice huh?  

 We are anxious to meet these members of the Dubbo branch.   

We meet a lot of good people

I have been surprised how welcoming the people have been here in Orange.   They all seem so gracious and friendly.     Even the in-actives will invite us in.     I think mostly to tell us why they don't go anymore.

One lady yesterday told us that she has her own life and family that keeps her busy but still lives the gospel principles.    BUT!    Her and her partner likes to go away in their camper and see Australia. You call that living the gospel principles?     Not hardly.   But she was still very gracious and visited with us.

Another man, S.........e K........n was not home, but the lady he is living with gave him our information. He called us and actually made an appointment and came to see us at our apartment.    He told us all about why he does not go anymore.    He is angry with the Lord for letting so many people suffer in the world.     Ron talked to him about free agency and how the Lord can't take that away from people.    Some people have to suffer terribly because of those choosing to be wicked.   

He was basically a millionaire and lost it all with the collapse of the economy.    He was building homes and had about 15 going at one time.    He lost it all.   He says he has prayed and prayed and felt like he has gotten no answers. 

Ron talked to him and challenging him to pay his tithing and he said he would.    He said he had no problems with the principle of tithing.    We are anxious to work with him.
Those that are strong in the gospel are really devoted to it.     They love it.    We are meeting many many good people here.   
Ron and I are going on a 3 day trip to meet some people in the Dubbo Branch that we are also assigned to.    We will stay in our summer cabin (shown on the blog) and maybe go to Lightning Ridge North (North) and Cobar (NW) of Dubbo.    They are both 4 hrs farther away from Dubbo. Dubbo is 2 hrs away from Orange.    So we have some traveling to do.
 Back out on these lovely country roads.   hehe

Afternoon - Preparation Day with the Sister Missionaries

Sept. 26, 2011
After a fun time at the races, we took the Sisters back to Orange.   They usually do their e-mails at a library on Mondays so we let them spend time on our computers.   The for more fun.   We took them to Lake Canobolas.     We first found a picnic table and had our lunch on this cool breezy sunny day. 

After feeding ourselves and the ducks we hiked the trail all around the whole lake.  

This is what we got to do.

climb in the trees 

 Sisters Pearce, Utai, and Moses (front)

Stand in front of beautiful smelling bushes

Hug a Tree (well sort of)

Swing from branches

Cross the great and mighty Lake Canobolas Dam

Rest from all our worldly cares

(the sisters wore him out)

ponder and enjoy the beauties of the Earth

What we got to SEE

Kangaroos

Beautiful Ballerinas posing in the sun

missionary badges hanging in a tree

and the best of all, the beauty of the Lake itself

Morning - Preparation day with the Sister Missionaries

On Mon. Sept. 26th, 2011 (preparation day) we went to Bathurst to pick up the sister missionaries and take them on a picnic.    Before we left town they wanted to show us the famous Mount Panarama Motor Racing Circuit.   They directed us where to go and all of a sudden we realized we were ON the actual race track.    The race track itself is actually a part of the city street system and there are homes along the track.   The land in the middle of the track also has home located there.   The residents use the track to get to their homes.    The track is only closed on race days for 24 hrs at a time.

The sad part is that for residence it still has the city speed limit of 60 km/h (37 mph) except on race day.   

Dad had a hard time holding back.   

    It goes up the side of the mountain and has many sharp turns.    

We drove the entire track and stopped and took many pictures.  

 



The sisters warned us of cameras tracking the drivers speed limit.

After driving the full race track we stopped at the information center. 

We took more pictures

  Yay, we are all champions for driving Mount Panorama Motor Racing Circuit

Parked outside on the road by the visitors center was a bright yellow 1946 Ford.    Dad wanted to get his picture taken by it.   Just as we were heading for it a pick-up stopped and let a man out.   He went straight to the Ford to get in.   The sisters ran to him and asked if we could get a picture by his beautiful truck.  He was very nice and we visited with him and got many more pictures.

Leave it up to dad to find out that it has an origional Ford front cab and fenders but an Australian Ford back section.     Also, a Holden front suspension under it and a Windsor 402 V8 with an automatic transmission.    The owner says he  does not race it but drives it every day.    He said there is no sense keeping it only for car shows.      He built it to enjoy.  Dad agreed with him whole heartily.

We had an exciting time at the races this morning. 

one website for the racecourse is:
http://www.bathurst-nsw.com/MtPanorama.html

Actual movie racing footage at:
http://www.bathurst1000.com.au/

Well, back to missionary work.

W.........n T..........o, L.... and children

Friday September 30, 2011

We had W...........n and L..... for dinner again.    W........n seems to love the food I make.   I fixed hamburger Stroganoff.      He kept saying that he wanted to have the recipe it was soooo good.   I already gave them the recipe for the caramel corn that they all love so much.     After dinner the kids all colored.     They loved that.    I felt as if at home with my grandkids. 

   

W..........n likes to cook food the Hangi method. 

Hāngi (pronounced [ˈhaːŋi]) is a traditional New Zealand Māori method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven still used for special occasions.   I can't pronounce it like W......n does.  

He is going to cook for us Wed. Oct. 5th, 2011.    We are excited.   He says there will be lots of food.  

He has asked Ron to bless the twins after they are born.   He wants to have a big barbeque for the occasion.     We are really enjoying them.   And the kids never want to leave when coming here.   Sounds like some grandkids of mine.

September summary of Mission

1st Month in Orange, Australia

We have been in the Orange District for 1 month now and are loving it.    Besides loving the country atmosphere, we are loving the people.

On our 4th day here we decided to walk around the neighborhood and see just who we might meet. We saw a large man walking down the sidewalk and when he saw how we were dressed and our missionary badges he stopped to talk with us.    His name is W........n T...........o.    He is a member of the church from Tonga and said that he wanted to have his step sons baptized.    He has not been attending church because he cannot drive.    We offered to pick him up on Sunday and he accepted. He and one stepson attended with us.

We invited the whole family to dinner at our apartment the following Thursday and had a very good time with them.  The following Sunday, W.........n and two of his step daughters went to church with us and seemed to enjoy it.   We had them to dinner again and the children's Mother is also interested in getting them baptized.   We are hoping that while the children are being taught, that she will gain a testimony and want to be baptized also.   

When we 1st arrived at the mission office, we were given two referral slips for P........r P.......o in Orange and his mother, D.......s P.........o in an assisted living center in Forbes.    We have not been able to make contact with P.......r but have been visiting D.......s once a week.   We have left her copies of the Ensign Magazine and she seems to enjoy our visits.   We don't know what will come of it as she is on oxygen and not in good health and it would be a 2 hour ride one way to bring her to church. We hope she will accept the gospel, if not in this life, possibly in the next.

Tuesday evening we invited A......n P....i to dinner and spent a great evening with him.   He is making a come back after a period of inactivity.    He was able to go to the Temple Thursday Sept 29.

Wednesday evening we had dinner with Bro & Sis. D......e.  Sis. D.... is very active, but Bro. D....... has not been going to church.   He loves Genealogy and has shown us how he does it using 5 monitors.    We are hoping that he will decide to come back to church before we leave the area.  Their son, M......y was there from Taiwan.    He is looking for work so his wife and daughter can join him here.   

 

Thursday we tried to contact various branch members throughout the day but found no one home except J........y B........n who is from the Philippines.   We had a good visit with him and invited he and his family to dinner on Tuesday evening.    He mentioned that one reason he quit going to church was that everyone kept asking him if he had passed the test to be able to work in Australia yet.   

Later that evening we tried to locate S...........e M.........n on National Ave. The lady at 13 National Ave. said that he comes around sometimes and so we left our phone number with her to give to him when she see's him.

We also visited Sister N......n and her children. They were waiting for her husband R.......t to get home later that evening.   

Friday afternoon, S.......e M..........n called us and we arranged to meet him at our apartment.  We visited with him for about an hour.   He is struggling with his testimony.   We challenged him to pay his tithing and he said he would.    We explained that the Lord promised that the Windows of Heaven are opened to those who pay their tithing and in his case it may include a stronger witness of the Holy Ghost that God is in control as S.........e is struggling to believe in God because of all the suffering he see's in the world.

We ended the evening with dinner at our place for W........n T..........o and his family.    They said they would be to church on Sunday.  

Next week, we will probably be working more in the Cowra Branch.